Bookings · How-to
Keep a waitlist and offer freed slots
Note clients who want a time that is not free, let them join from your booking page, offer them a slot by hand or automatically when a visit is cancelled, and know when they leave the list.
Open the waitlist
Bookings › Waitlist has three parts: “Waitlist”, “Standing appointments”, and “Rooms and equipment”. This article covers the first.
Add someone
Press “Add to waitlist”. Choose the “Client”, the “Place”, a “Service” or “Any service”, and the days they could come under “From” and “To”. Add “Notes” such as a preferred time, then press “Add to waitlist”. For a service booked for a child, a pet or a vehicle, a list such as “Which child” names the one the client is waiting for, and the offer books for it.
Offer a slot by hand
When a time comes free, call or message the client and press “Mark offered” while you wait for their answer. The entry shows “Offered” and until when; once that time passes, it goes back to waiting. How long an offer lasts is set by “Offer stands for (hours)” on Bookings › Settings, 4 hours unless you change it.
Let Setvos offer it
On Bookings › Settings, turn on “Tell the waitlist when a slot frees” and set “Offer stands for (hours)”. When a visit is cancelled, by you or the client, the first person waiting for that place, on that day and for that service or any service, is sent a message saying which time came free, with a link that stops working when the offer lapses. Their entry shows “Offered”, the time and until when, and goes back to waiting if the offer lapses.
The same switch is offered on the “Earn more with what you have” tile on Dashboard. A client with an email address gets the offer by email too: held, it says the time is kept for them and until when; not held, that the first to book gets it.
Let clients join online
On Bookings › Settings, under “Tell the waitlist when a slot frees”, turn on “Clients can join the waitlist online”. It can be turned on only while offers are on, and turning offers off turns it off too. Your booking page then offers the waitlist: a day with no free times says “No free times this day. Join the waitlist”, and other days show “Nothing fits? Join the waitlist” under the times. The client chooses the days under “From” and “To”, from today and two weeks at most, and gives a name and a phone number. A phone number can have one open entry per place, “Online bookings per day” also limits how many can join online in a day, and nothing is sent when they join. Here, their entry shows “Online”.
Book them
Without online joining, an offer does not hold the time: the message says the first to book it gets it, and its link opens your booking page with the service, the person and the time already chosen. If the client calls you instead, book them yourself.
With “Clients can join the waitlist online” on, every automatic offer holds the time for the person offered it, including people you added yourself, for “Offer stands for (hours)” and never past the time’s start. Nobody else can book it, online or at the desk: if you try, you are told whose time it is held for. Their entry shows “Held until” and the time, such as “Held until 14:30”. The message says the time is held for them, and its link opens a page where they press “Book this time” or “Take me off the list”. Only they can book it there, the page asks for no name or phone, and a deposit or a card on file is asked for as on your booking page. If the hold lapses, the time is back on your booking page and their entry back to waiting.
A reply to the message is not read. Once the client is booked at that place, on a day they asked for and for their service, their entry leaves the list by itself, whether you booked them or they booked online. To take someone off who no longer wants a slot, press “Remove” and confirm. An offer sent on Telegram opens inside Telegram: “Book this time” for a held time, “Book” otherwise.
Common questions
- Who is offered a freed slot first?
Of the people who match, the one added to the list first.
- Which clock is a held time on?
Your place’s. “Held until” is the time in the place’s time zone, wherever the person reading it is.
- How do I use the waitlist on the phone?
In Setvos Business, open More → Bookings → Waitlist. Finished entries are greyed out, and a held time reads “Held until” and the time, on the salon’s own clock. Touch and hold a row, or swipe it, for “Mark offered” and Remove; Remove asks first. The screen also says how long an offer holds, in hours, as the salon has set it.
- How do I add someone to the waitlist on the phone?
On the Waitlist screen, press + for “Add to the waitlist”. Search for the client, then choose the place if you have several, a service or “Any service”, the dates under From and To, and a note.
- Can clients join the waitlist from the app?
Yes, when clients may join online: “Join the waitlist” sits under the times. The client chooses a service and up to 14 days, and gives a name and phone.
- Can a client take an offer in the app?
Yes: the offer’s link opens it in the app, held until the time you set. The client books it, paying a deposit if one is asked, or takes themselves off the list.
Read next
Book standing appointments and recalls
Set up a visit that repeats weekly, fortnightly or monthly, book a single follow-up months ahead, and end a series when the client stops coming.
Offer group classes, packages and services that need more
Set up a group class with seats, a package of several services, a service that needs two people, a room or a waiting stage, and a service that must follow another.
Choose your booking settings
Set the clock your diary runs on, the texts clients receive, deposits and the free-cancellation window, limits on online bookings, the waitlist offer, off-peak discounts and emergency windows.
Messaging: texts, automatic messages and the message log
Text one client or a group, switch on the messages Setvos sends for you, and check what went out, on which account, and why anything did not.
More in Bookings
- Bookings: your diary, staff rota and online booking page
- Find your way around the appointments diary
- Book an appointment for a client
- Check in, finish, move or cancel an appointment
- Take payment for a visit at the till
- Set up your services, prices and categories
- Visits at the client’s address, and prices by size
- Cut no-shows with deposits and cards on file
- Plan the staff rota and publish it
- Run classes: a timetable, enrolment and the register
- Read and answer client reviews
- Review rules, and reporting a review
Open in Setvos
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